Photo courtesy of Denise Lawson Many Alaskan sled dogs are finding a new home in Virginia after their working careers are done. - Virginia 
Retired Alaskan Sled Dogs Enjoy Virginia
Northern Virginia is nearly as far as you can get in the United States from the Northern Lights of Alaska, but Comet and Swannie don't appear to mind swapping the Wrangell Mountains for the Shenandoah Mountains. That’s because Denise Lawson, who worked to bring them more than 4,000 miles from where they were living near the Yukon border to living near the District of Columbia border, is helping them find forever homes where they can do what so many other individuals yearn to do after a taxing career—enjoy their retirement.
In 2018, Lawson, and her boyfriend, Gordon Smith, visited a friend who worked in the dog mushing trade. They learned how to work with dogs on their own sleds and rely on the canines as teammates more than pets. Along the way, they fell in love with one of their working dogs, Black Bear. At the end of the mush season, Black Bear retired and Lawson’s friend helped get Black Bear home to Springfield.
Since then, Lawson and Smith have helped bring more than 20 retired sled dogs from Alaska (and one from Minnesota) to Virginia to find forever homes. To help pay for all the travel and veterinary costs, Lawson launched a series of books about Black Bear’s adventures. There are many misconceptions about how working dogs in Alaska are treated, and it’s part of Lawson’s mission to educate people about the healthy life most working dogs live in the Northwest territories in her books and talks. Coronavirus restrictions have limited the number of presentations and talks that Lawson and her dogs are able to share with the public, so we conducted a question and answer session with her to share her message from a socially-safe distance.
View Full Article